1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to color design generation technology for display images which are displayed on a computer graphics screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No.2001-749, there is known a computer system which performs a soccer game, in a virtual fashion, in response to input operations performed by a user. In a conventional soccer game, the coloring of the uniform worn by the characters simulating soccer players is previously determined, and there has been no provision whereby a user can determine the design of the uniform, but with the contemporary demands in recent years for greater diversification of games and increased added value, system designs which reflect the individual personality of the user have been developed. For example, it is possible to play a soccer game using a team uniform of which the colors have been designed freely by the user, by providing a program which enables a uniform edit mode to be executed, separately from the basic game processing.
However, in actual soccer competitions, it is common for a color design to be implemented whereby there is a difference in coloring between the uniform that a team wears when playing at its home ground (home uniform) and the uniform that it wears when playing at an away ground (away uniform). This is because confusion will occur between the players, causing an obstruction to the playing of the game, if the respective opposing teams have similar color designs in their playing uniforms. Consequently, in a soccer game using a computer system also, similarly to an actual soccer competition, it is necessary to change between a color design for the home uniform and a color design for the away uniform, in such a manner that the respective teams can be told apart, visually.
Moreover, although it has been considered that a user should be able freely to design the home uniform and the away uniform, since the user is able to design the uniform freely, it can be envisaged that he or she may use a similar color scheme for both designs, thus giving rise to situations where a distinction cannot be made readily between the home uniform and the away uniform. Furthermore, if two teams having designs using similar types of color in this way play against each other, then it will not be possible to distinguish between them, even if one of the teams is changed to an away uniform.
Problems of this kind are not limited to soccer games, but may also occur in other games where the user is able freely to edit the color design of the game characters. For example, in addition to team sports such as a soccer match, this problem may also apply to competitive games in which characters compete with each other, role playing games in which characters have encounters inside a virtual space, and the like.